THUMBS UP FOR ROYALTY RATE CHANGE

SoundExchange President & CEO Michael Huppe applauded the raising of royalty rates as “a step toward building a healthier music industry.”

The Copyright Royalty Judges have set royalty rates for digital performances at $0.0026 for commercial subscription services and $0.0021 for commercial non-subscription services. Rates for 2022 through 2025 could be adjusted to reflect the increases or decreases, if any, in the general price level, as measured by the change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers.

Huppe noted that rates are lower than SoundExchange and others had proposed but hastened to add that musicians will be paid “fairly.”

“The decision reflects the compelling case made by SoundExchange and our allies that we need to close the gap between what artists and rights holders have been paid and what they should be paid for their work. We haven’t fully closed that gap, but today is a step in the right direction,” he said.

“The music industry is in a state of transformation, and that means each player in the industry—creator and streaming platforms alike—need to evolve as well. SoundExchange will continue to drive that evolution because it knows that a healthy music industry is integral to society.”

The rates for noncommercial webcasters are $1,000 annually for each station or channel for all webcast transmissions totaling fewer than 159,140 Aggregate Tuning Hours (ATH) in a month.